


The Griffon Misadventure

by StariWolfe



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Gen, Humor, adventures of the dumbass crew, basically two people wanna try and tame griffons and it goes to hell in a handbasket, there's a tiny bit of flirting at the end but it's not a focus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 00:25:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18200990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StariWolfe/pseuds/StariWolfe
Summary: Vesper gets roped in to try and help her friends Ellyewen and Lemon tame griffons. It goes about as well as she expected.





	The Griffon Misadventure

**Author's Note:**

> Yo yo yo I wanted to write about my friends and I having dumb adventures in Guild Wars 2 so here we go. Lemon belongs to EchoBear, Ellyewen belongs to ShortyBishop, and Vesper is my girl. You can see what Vesper looks like on my gw2 tumblr: nocte-argentea. Enjoy!

Vesper knew that this day would end badly when Ellyewen and Lemon started asking questions about griffons.

She’d been in the Gilded Hollow, caring for her griffon, Firefly. In other words, she’d been procrastinating working on paperwork when the two younger women had come up to her. They’d had a look of mischief in their eyes, and that made her extremely wary. Vesper was no stranger to mischief, often having to be rescued from various situations because of her shenanigans, but Lemon and Ellyewen had a tendency to cause more chaotic and destructive trouble. 

“Hey Vesper, would you mind telling us a little bit about Firefly?” Ellyewen started, looking at the griffon quizzically.

“I’m okay with telling you two some things, but can I ask why first?” The thief strongly distrusted these two when they acted like this. She knew they’d never put her or anyone else in Jokers and Rogues in danger, but she was still strongly suspicious that they were up to no good. She really didn’t feel like pulling something sticky out of her hair or Firefly’s feathers today.

“We just want to know!” Lemon stated excitedly. “We don’t know much about griffons, except for the dangerous ones, and you, Nocte, and Altair are the only ones who ride them! Can’t you tell us just a little bit?” The yellow sylvari pleaded, looking at the commander with huge puppy dog eyes.

“Alright, alright. You’re lucky I’m weak to puppy dog eyes, you know that, mate?” Vesper sighed, knowing that these two would pester her all day if she said no to their request. So she told them a bit about how she cared for Firefly, the various things she could do, and ended by flying around the guild hall a bit to show them the style and grace of a griffon in flight. The daredevil dismounted with a flourish and gave a quick bow for the two watchers, who were staring at her with awe and wonder in their eyes. 

“You two are amazing, Commander! You should put on a show like that more often!” Lemon was nearly jumping up and down in her elation. Vesper blushed lightly, thinking about how she honestly wouldn’t mind that. She loved performing, she was just a bit shy about performing in front of others.

“Actually, Vesper, we have one more question for you.” Ellyewen’s voice startled her out of that thought, and she noticed, again, a mischievous look in her eye. This wasn’t going to be a question she liked, was it?

“Can you help us tame griffons?” 

That simple question is what led Vesper to her current situation. Currently, the trio was in the Domain of Vabbi, walking towards the general direction of the Sunspear Sanctuary while taking cover from the Brandstorm when needed. This was not her preferred method to avoid paperwork. She cursed her inability to say no to them, but puppy dog eyes won the day yet again. She should’ve known it would end up like this. Thankfully she had some sense: she had told them she’d take them to the person who could get them started on taming a griffon, but they’d have to do the rest on their own. She was not looking all over the desert for eggs and bounties again.

“So what exactly are we doing here again?” Ellyewen’s voice snapped the commander out of her thoughts for the second time that day. Ellyewen was relatively new to the desert, and from the look on her face, she strongly disliked the Brandstorm. Vesper knew that feeling. When she first set out to tame a griffon, she spent hours trying to get to the Sunspear Sanctuary while dodging the lightning raining down from the Dragonbrand. It was less than fun, to say the least.

“We’re going to the Sunspear Sanctuary, to introduce you two to the one who can get you started on griffon taming.” She pointed to some cliffs in the distance. “We need to head up a few cliffs and through a few jackal portals, and we’ll be there. Then you two can have all the fun of griffon taming.”

“But why can’t you just tell us, Vesper? Why do we need to talk to someone else?” Lemon was not enjoying her second trip to the desert. Vesper idly wondered if sylvari really did wilt in this kind of climate.

“Even if I could, I told you I’d only help you get started. Besides, it’s been a while and I don’t remember everything that you need to do. So, we need to go talk to the one who knows everything there is to know about griffons. Savvy?” Judging by the looks the two other women were sharing, they didn’t think this was fun at all. “I see those looks you’re giving me, mates. If you really want this, you have to endure it and work for it.”

Her two charges muttered something about ‘eyes in the back of her head,’ but then begrudgingly fell into silence. They stayed quiet for most of the rest of the way to the plateau, save for various questions about the desert, which Vesper didn’t mind answering. Soon, they reached the bottom of the cliffs. The trio had started on their way to the first jackal portal, when Lemon let out a joyous cry.

“Vesper, Ellyewen, look! Griffons!” Lemon was pointing excitedly, almost jumping up and down in excitement again. Vesper looked to where she was pointing, and sure enough, there were griffons. There was a problem, however. They weren’t the right type of griffon, and worse yet, they were Branded.

“Aye, that they are. But those aren’t the right type of griffon, and they’re also Branded. We can’t tame those, Lemon.” Vesper turned back towards the portal, ready to move on, but Lemon couldn’t be swayed, apparently.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s fine! I’m just gonna give it a try really quick!” And before Vesper could stop her, the sylvari had run over to one of the Branded griffons and leapt onto it’s back. It did not take that well, and started bucking and screeching.

“Lemon! No!” The commander turned to her other party member. “Ellyewen, you stay here. Summon your jackal and stay under cover. I need to go save our lemony friend. And if I look over and you aren’t here, so help me.” Grabbing her staff, the thief began to run over to the enraged griffon with a sylvari on its back.

“I think it’s working, Commander!” Lemon was blissfully unaware of how angry the griffon was, and said commander was getting increasingly worried. This thing could fly off and take the sylvari with it. And while she had a glider, who knows where this thing would take her? It could drop her off in a den of Branded hydras, and then the hydras would have a nice little lemon salad. Vesper was not about to let that happen.

The griffon finally managed to buck Lemon off, and she landed a few feet away, her body half buried in the sand. The beast turned towards her, ready to tear her apart with beak and talon, but Vesper reached it first. After a brief tussle, lots of dodging and more than a few bruises, she finally managed to knock the griffon out cold. She positioned herself to strike the death blow, but Lemon, finally out of the sand, called out to stop her.

“Wait, Vesper! Don’t kill it! What if it has a family?” The sylvari made her way over to where the commander and the griffon were, breathing heavily. Vesper assumed that digging herself out of the sand took a lot of effort. And as much as she would like to kill this griffon and be done with it, she didn’t want to see Lemon even more distressed. Plus, she ached everywhere now and was covered in sand and feathers, and was much too tired to argue.

“Alright, fine. But no more trying to ride wild griffons. Understand?” Vesper stated softly but firmly. Lemon nodded, and they began back to where Ellyewen was waiting. Or rather, where she was supposed to be waiting. Her jackal was there, but it’s rider was nowhere to be seen. The commander sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut. Where in the hell had she gone? This afternoon was going to hell in a handbasket faster than she could blink.

“Ellyewen! Where are you? What did I tell you about leaving this spot?” Vesper shouted and began looking around for the warrior. Why did this always happen to her?

“But I’m right here!” Vesper jolted at the voice coming from above her. Sure enough, she looked up and saw Ellyewen attempting to scale the cliff.

“…What in the hell are you doing, mate?” Vesper put a hand on her hip, letting out a resigned sigh. She really should’ve brought Altair or Nocte with her on this trip. She should’ve known she would have trouble watching over these two alone.

“You said we need to get to the top of the plateau! I’m just trying to figure how to get the jackal up the cliff! You didn’t tell us that part!” The warrior was thankfully only about a foot above her jackal, so getting her down would be easy. Hopefully.

“Ellyewen. Do you see this portal over here? The one I pointed out earlier?”

“What about it?”

“That’s how we get the jackals to the top of the plateau.”

“…Oh.” Ellyewen looked down, an embarrassed blush creeping over her cheeks. “Can you help me get down, then?”

After helping the warrior back onto her jackal, the trio finally made their way into the portals and up onto the plateau. The Brandstorm didn’t extend to this part of Vabbi, so they thankfully didn’t have to duck in cover anymore. Vesper was exhausted at this point, covered in bruises from her fight with the griffon and smelling of bloody feathers. She was very thankful that this was almost over. She still had the paperwork for the guild left to do back at the guild hall, but she was strongly leaning towards getting some food and a book and leaving the working for the morning. The Sanctuary was finally in sight, and as the three walked on, Vesper felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Commander?” Lemon looked at her with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry for not listening to you about the griffon. And thank you for saving me, and not killing it, and bringing us all the way here, and-”

“Lemon, it’s okay.” Vesper cut her off, looking at her with a kind expression. “I’d rather be out here than doing paperwork, I promise.” That was the honest truth, though there were several other ways to avoid paperwork that Vesper much preferred.

“I’m sorry, too, Commander.” Ellyewen spoke up, also looking apologetic.

“I appreciate and accept both of your apologies. It’s water under the bridge, mates.” Vesper looked ahead of her. “And hey! Look, we made it!”

It was about the same as she remembered it. Griffons roosting on nests, Sunspears caring for them and the eggs, and what was left of the Last Spearmarshal remained in the middle of the area. A charming sight as always, she mused.

“Oh wow! They look like Firefly! But with different colors!” Lemon was extremely elated once again, gripping Vespers arm to keep from getting too excited.

“This place is incredible! So many Griffons and Sunspears all in one place!” Ellyewen looked at the commander. “So who do we talk to? How do we get started?”

“She’s right over here.” Vesper gave her a roguish grin, and walked up to the Last Spearmarshal’s corpse. She waved the other two women over, and gestured towards the ground. 

Her two charges looked at her in confusion.

“This dead body?” Ellyewen asked, eyeing the corpse.

“Aye. This dead body.” Vesper was having a ball now. It was a nice little bit of payback to watch them squirm a bit.

“But…how?” Lemon said, looking like she was about to poke the corpse with her hammer. It was now that the Spearmarshal decided to speak up.

“Welcome back, Commander. I have been watching and waiting for you and your charges to arrive.” The Spearmarshal stated from her position. Ellyewen and Lemon looked positively mortified now, and the commander was loving every second of it.

“This is the Last Spearmarshal. She was partially Awakened by Joko, so that she’d be alive for centuries but couldn’t move. She sees and hears through these griffons, and griffons like Firefly.” Vesper looked at the body. “Did I get all of that right?”

“Yes, well done. I understand that your friends are interested in getting their own griffons?”

“Why, yes they are! That’s why I brought them here. And on that note,” Vesper began to get out her portal stone and turned towards her friends, “I’ll be heading back to the guild hall, as I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain. The Spearmarshal here will explain everything. Have fun, mates!” And before either could protest, she was ported back to the guild hall waypoint faster than a blink.

Seemed like no one was at the guild hall when she returned. Nocte wasn’t tending her animals, the research crew wasn’t present, and Morgana and Niamh weren’t in the infirmary, much to Vesper’s dismay. She’d been hoping that maybe they could help with these bruises. She gave a heavy sigh and started to make her way to her room. They’d all be back soon, and maybe they could go get something to eat when they did. She took off her coat on the way to her room, finding it too warm within the Gilded Hollow to keep it on over her red vest and tunic underneath.

Once she was nearly at her quarters, she swore she smelled food of some kind. She turned the corner and entered her room to find Altair lying on her couch, reading one of her books, and two plates of food on her desk. He had a good taste in stories, apparently, as he was reading one of her favorites. He looked up as she walked in.

“I heard you got dragged out to the desert to tame some griffons with Lemon and Ellyewen. How’d it go?”

Vesper threw her coat and weapons onto a nearby chair and collapsed into her bed. “Existing hurts. I ache everywhere. And I’m fairly certain I have sand in my boots.” She sat up and began to take her shoes off. Sure enough, lots of sand was present in the bottom of her boot. She looked over at the sylvari on her couch. “Where is everyone? I was hoping to talk to Niamh and or Morgana.”

“Are you badly injured?” He asked, looking over at her with a concerned look.

“No, but I was hoping to see if they could do something about these bruises.”

“Well in that case, they’ll be back soon. Once they learned where you three were headed and what you were doing, they went out to stock up on supplies. Melita, Sapphire, and the others won’t be back until later tonight, though. They had their own errands to run, and Melita and Sapphire in particular had some diplomatic meeting between charr and humans to attend.” He gestured towards the food and went back to reading the book. “I picked you up some dinner, though, since I thought you might be too tired to cook tonight.”

“Oh, bless your heart, Altair. You know me so well.” She laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. “I can eat while I work on that damn paperwork. I was hoping to have it done by now.” That was a bit of a lie. She was hoping to at least get started earlier though.

“That’s a lie and you know it.” Altair retorted, not looking up from the pages. “I’d be surprised if you’d even started by now had that little side trip not happened.”

“I’m hurt, mate.”

“You know I’m right. But no worries.” He looked over at her with a smirk. “You’re awful at all that filing and accounting, so I took care of it. You can relax tonight.”

“Wait, really?” She shot up from her position, looking at him hopefully.

“Would I lie to you about something like that? You can check the papers yourself.”

“…Marry me?”

“At least take me out to dinner first. Speaking of…” He placed a bookmark where he left off in the book and stood up, grabbing the two plates of food and bringing them to Vesper’s bed. He handed her one of the plates and sat on the edge of her bed with the other. “So tell me about your little adventure today. You seem like you need to vent a bit.” 

“Well, it all started when Lemon and Ellyewen asked me questions about Firefly. And then it went downhill from there.”


End file.
